New Nina Ricci Platforms Mean Business

A sky-high pair of heels can inject a boost (ha) of confidence in us vertically-challenged types. But "secure" was perhaps the last thing models on the Nina Ricci fall runway felt when designer Olivier Theyskens sent them down the catwalk wearing platforms that appeared to be at least eight to ten inches high.

They ranged from patent and plain leather, to quilted, to lace-up, to hot-pink sequined. Some had heels, some didn't—lending an extra level of precariousness as the models balanced themselves on the balls of their feet. But all the shoes had one thing in common: They made the models look like seven-foot-tall, crazy-skinny creatures. Amazingly, no one fell—"the models were startlingly capable of walking in them," our eyewitness tells us, likening the event to watching extreme sports.

One thing's for certain, these are not the working woman's shoe for fall 2009. But we're sure Victoria Beckham, after traipsing around town in Antonio Berardi's heel-less platforms last year, is up to the challenge.